Sen. Sanders Lays Into Obama for Attacking Social Security

Posted on Apr 13, 2013

The senator stood before a crowd of retirees, veterans and their supporters Thursday to point out that the president’s proposal for a “Chained CPI” adjustment to the calculation of retirement benefits would wreak destruction on the lives of elderly and disabled Americans.

“At a time when millions of working families are struggling economically, I am deeply disappointed,” said Sanders, a Senate Budget Committee member and chairman of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. According to the senator’s website, “Under the budget proposal, a 65-year-old retiree would lose more than $650 a year in Social Security by their 75th birthday. A disabled veteran who started receiving benefits at 30 would have their benefits cut by $1,425 a year at age 45 and $3,231 at age 65.”

After Sanders spoke, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka disputed more of the lie surrounding the “Chained CPI” adjustment. Social Security does not add to the deficit, he said. “The Chained CPI is some economist’s fancy way of weakening one of Social Security’s most important protections, namely its cost of living increases, its annual COLA. That protects the purchasing power of benefits from inflation. To put it simply, Social Security’s COLA protects the real value of benefits, and it prevents seniors from losing economic ground each and every year.”

If you need a Republican to confirm Social Security has nothing to do with America’s debt, listen to Ronald Reagan: